Can crows spread disease to chickens?

[TwentyOneChickens]

There's a few crows that stroll right over to the chickens whenever there's treats and they eat some (like today, we saw one take an apple) and I don't think it's likely, but my mom is worried they'll spread disease to the chickens. Can they?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Absolutely. Worse, if you have never done in depth research on chicken disease, you will be shocked at how chickens are walking a razor thin line of health. Many flocks are carriers of many diseases, all it takes is some stress by moving the flock, heck even moving a single bird, and that can tip the balance in the immune system that is barely keeping the diseases suppressed . http://chickenfeederreviews.com/category/diseases/

 

[TwentyOneChickens]

Absolutely. Worse, if you have never done in depth research on chicken disease, you will be shocked at how chickens are walking a razor thin line of health. Many flocks are carriers of many diseases, all it takes is some stress by moving the flock, heck even moving a single bird, and that can tip the balance in the immune system that is barely keeping the diseases suppressed . http://chickenfeederreviews.com/category/diseases/

Thank you so much! How can I prevent them from getting diseases? How does the crow spread it?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Bio security is big business with the commercial flock. You have to stop the transmission caused by contact. A crow will have stepped in lord knows what before he visits your coop. Get rid of any rats, wild birds, squirrels, you can fence out a lot of the critters but the best way is to restrict access to the food and water. Treadle feeder, a good one, spring loaded door and counterweight a must on the feeder. When you introduce the feeder set up bait stations in a safe manner as the rats and mice will start to starve. If you are free ranging then there isn't much you can do other than get the feed and water inside to cut down on the number of wild animals and pests contaminating your feed and water.

 

[PirateGirl]

I think the thing that spreads the easiest is parasites. Crows and other wild birds fly all over the place and can pick up all manner of thing. Mites/lice etc. can spread just by proximity, other types of intestinal parasites/worms can be spread with they leave behind droppings.